


Shadows of the Future

by soulofaminaanima



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Inhuman powers, Divination, Gen, Inhuman AU, POV First Person, Season/Series 01, Teleportation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27420427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulofaminaanima/pseuds/soulofaminaanima
Summary: Carter had known Reese was inhuman from the first time they met.The detective decides early on that she doesn't want to know about his powers, the plausible deniability might keep her safe from the CIA one day. Why Finch would risk having a wanted and hunted inhuman in his secretive operation, Carter does not know. Turns out that Finch is just as gifted as his employee and Carter finally starts do understand how they run their two-man operation so well.--Set in season one to early season two. Alternate Universe with powers.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very old fic I never got around to posting because I disliked the pacing. But time doesn’t count in this second lockdown, it’s the fifth of November 2020 aparently, we still don’t know what’s happening in America, Destiel just became canon and immediately queer baited, so I imagine me posting this won’t be the weirdest thing happening today…

Carter had known Reese was inhuman from the first time they met.

Although no federal organization would ever admit to having an inhuman in their ranks, it was all over his file. No man could escape that many near death experiences and not actually die. From the special shadow missions to far away countries and the giant gaps in his resumé labled ‘classified’, this man had inhuman and CIA agent written all over his files.

And it wasn’t as if the homeless man in her custody was hiding it. He had this aura, this presence, hanging around him that screamed danger, ready to fight. No, not just danger. Carter met her fair share of killers over the years and this wasn’t the same. Even under the beard and filthy clothes, the inhuman hobo had this look that told you he was not only ready to fight, but also powerful enough to know he would win too.

In the beginning of their ‘partnership’ Carter had wondered what his power, his so called ‘gift’, was. There weren’t many inhumans in the world left and everyone had a different type of gift. Reese’s gift could range from shapeshifting to levitation and everything in between. His inhuman powers weren’t physically manifested and the detective wondered what they were. But then Carter accepted she really didn’t want to know. Asking questions about wanted inhumans got you into trouble. Knowing these answers? Probably got you killed.

Carter found that out the hard way when she teamed up with Mark Snow and his team. The fact that Snow was so ready to discard one of his agents was a shocking revelation. Being in the NYPD with all its dirty cops was hard sometimes, but at least Carter knew her superiors had their best interest in mind with her.

But Snow had set up this whole hunt to find an operative, just to shoot said operative point blank on a rooftop. After all the hours of work and research, they just discarded one of their own because Reese no longer used his powers for them anymore? The CIA would apparently do literally anything to keep their secrets..

Carter suspected it was Reese’s powers that saved him that night. That and the intervention of the mousy man with the limp. Carter lost the inhuman out of her sight for a moment when the shootout on the roof started and when she looked up, the man was gone. Like he literally went up in smoke.

Reese was either very good or just luckily gifted with a power that fitted his job very well. Carter suspected the latter, but she was okay with not knowing too much. It was that plausible deniability that kept her safe working alongside the CIA for a while longer. Long enough to get away herself.

Of course, that was the moment she got to experience Reese’s powers first hand.

It all went so fast, in three seconds it was done. They were standing in a back alley working on one of their ‘cases’, when shots got fired. Carter’s first instinct was to beeline behind a big metal dumpster behind Reese. The man must’ve known the dumpster was there, but Reese had another idea as he jumped towards her instead. He grabbed her and… then they were suddenly standing in the shadow of an entirely different building.

Light banter, gunfire, then they’re at other side of downtown. All in the blink of an eye

It really disoriented Carter for a moment. She hadn’t felt any changes as they…made the jump? It felt like standing up too fast with low iron in your blood. The act of standing up wasn’t all that upsetting, but the nausea would rise up after a few seconds. It was the same with Reese’s powers: the jump itself didn’t feel that weird, but the realization that your body had just moved without intent was very disorienting.

Carter had no idea what to call Reese’s powers, but he was clearly some kind of teleporter.

It explained how The Man in the Suit managed to be there whenever he needed to be. It was also a very fitting ability for someone running from the law, running a vigilante life.

Reese had given her a moment to recover from their jump, but he kept a close eye on her while they stood in downtown Manhattan. He was probably waiting for the detective to do something: cast her judgement and run back towards the CIA or something. This was still pretty early on in their partnership and neither Carter nor John knew what this revelation meant for them.

Carter swallowed her nausea away. “Please give me a warning before you pull another stunt like that.”

Typical, Reese smirked and didn’t answer her, but Carter saw him relax just the slightest. They made their way back to the inner city circle by bus and Carter was glad for it. One teleporting jump per day was more than enough.

After Reese understood Carter wouldn’t tip him off to the CIA and that she was actually pretty chill with his inhuman abilities, he took her on more teleportation trips. Not for fun of course, but whenever it was deemed necessary: when they needed a quick getaway, or their target was on the move. Once, Reese teleported them to the top of an apartment building, just so they had a better vintage point for a stake out. He would offer her his arm, pull the detective towards the nearest shadows and in a second, they would appear somewhere else.

With the familiarity of the jumps, Carter figured out the inhuman’s limitations: Reese could only travel from shadow to shadow, always to someplace he’d seen before and never further than a mile or two.

Carter got used to the feeling of dizziness that snuck up on her whenever she had to orient herself after the shadow jumps. She knew Fusco had more trouble with it, but she suspected that might actually be because Reese made it more disorienting for him somehow. She wouldn’t put it past him.

She knew Reese and Fusco started out on the wrong foot and Fusco got jumpy whenever she asked him about their first meeting. He liked to complain about the few jumps they made from shadow to shadow, though. Reese stayed tightlipped, only giving a small grin whenever he got Fusco squirming for something. He’d never tell her about the first meeting between the dirty cop and a teleporting inhuman.

Reese kept them in the dark about a lot of things. About the two detectives actually working on the same side with them. About their intel and where they got it. Where Finch got the money from for their stunts. And Finch himself too, another one of Reese’s secrets…

Two men hiding in plain sight, saving people in moments of need, playing the NYPD like a fiddle. Both of them were secretive, about their job and about themselves. They were clearly mad too if they thought that playing vigilante with the teleporting powers of a wanted and hunted inhuman was a good idea. Finch must’ve been truly desperate, or mad when he approached Reese, a man with a deadly past with the CIA. Carter had no idea what Finch’s goal was, but they kept it under tight wraps with the detectives. Another secret Carter wasn’t sure she wanted an answer for.

Carter should have suspected the pattern. The only reason these two ever give anything away is when they really have to. So of course it’s a life or death situation when she finds out Finch is inhuman too.


	2. Chapter 2

Bullets fly over their heads and people are screaming as they make their way down the stairway. Carter barely hears the other two over the echoing of firing guns through the place.

Reese walks two steps in front of her and she almost bumps into him when he stops, thus resulting in Finch, who is walking right behind her, actually bumping into her. He apologizes of course, but she’d rather have him apologize for getting her into this mess in the first place. She could’ve been at home, drinking wine and watching bad television.

Instead, she’s getting shot at on the fifth floor of a construction site. Reese’s checking the next floor for any more shooters while Finch is clutching a brown leather bag containing the re-stolen documentation and legal papers of four teens that got trafficked away from their homes. The four girls in question are already hidden away in a safehouse and Fusco’s with them.

Carter hoped that her involvement wouldn’t be necessary for this part, but Reese needed someone with the right authorization to get them on site to retrieve the stolen passports. The building site was, of course, a front and was swarming with gun-carrying members of the Columbian mafia. The moment they stepped in the joint, things had turned sour.

Reese leads them towards the back of the open floor. The space is empty and the recently installed windows give a pretty view of the city. And of the dozen thugs on the ground floor closing off the building site.

“You know, we could be out of here in no time if you helped me.” Reese says and Carter has to look at him to understand that he’s not talking to her. He’s facing Finch who’s still carrying the leather bag like it’s a shield and refuses to look at Reese. Instead, his eyes quickly flicker over her and then the hacker shakes his head.

Reese sighs and leans in towards his boss, ready to quietly argue with him. Carter know when she’s not wanted and walks away from the pair. “I’ll check the doors.” she says, not wanting to be part of this argument.

She moves around the room they’ve locked themselves in; two doors, another stairwell and a window. Enough escape routes, but it’s not very practical for a hideout, so they’ll have to move quick. Carter finishes her round with a swift scan through the windows. She can hear the two men quietly arguing about something on the other side of the room while she scans for possible exists off this building site.

Carter can see more people carrying weapons walking towards their building and she knows they have to move fast. Lucky enough, Finch seems to have accepted their fate and is helping Reese with.. answering questions? “Okay, how about the east stairwell?” Reese asks, looking at Finch intensely.

“Seven, waiting downstairs behind crates and another five if we get to the doors.” Finch answers.

“Our chances?”

Finch shrugs. “A big maybe.”

“What about the main hall?” Reese asks. Finch takes a moment to contemplate an answer.

“Ten, but we’ll have the element of surprise.”

Carter walks back towards the two men, but she slows down; something is wrong. Did the billionaire hack into the security feeds somehow? No, she dismisses this thought immediately, there were no camera’s around the building and Finch only brought a phone, which he isn’t even using at the moment. They’re just standing there, Finch gripping Reese’s sleeve like he needs the other man to keep himself balanced. 

It’s only when she herself gets closer, she focuses on their faces and she notices: Finch’s face seems more blank, devoid of emotion and his eyes are unfocused, looking somewhere into the empty space in front of him. Reese looms over him protectively, scanning their surroundings and landing on her.

Reese narrows his eyes at her while she stares at Finch. The smaller man doesn’t acknowledge her, answering Reese with the same blank look on his face. “We should take the main hall, yes.”

“I want to use a different car, is there one somewhere around the block?” Reese asks.

“There’s a grey one parked across the Starbucks,” Finch repeats immediately, “I can’t see the brand, but you’re hotwiring it.”

It dawns on Carter slowly and then all at once, that Finch is seeing something she can’t see. The man just stands there and _stares._ But Carter knows he’s actually working on their getaway strategy: Reese keeps offering options and Finch rules them out or accepts their possibility.

Then, Reese switches from strategy and resolutely states: “We will not get shot.” But he still looks questioningly at Finch. It is only when the hacker nods in agreement that Reese accepts it as a fact, reacts and starts moving.

“I need you to do something for me.” Reese asks her. Carter raises an eyebrow, but she knows this isn’t the moment to ask for clarifications to what just happened. Their priority is to get out and Reese and her both know this.

“He’s pretty much out of it right now and I need you to help and guide him.” Reese explains as he removes Finch’s grip on his coat jacket. Carter steps forward and the moment she offers Finch her own elbow, he holds on the her like a lifeline. Finch still keeps staring into the middle distance, but he moves closer towards her.

“He can’t hear a lot and he sees even less right now, but anything he _does…_ um, _‘_ see’ could save our lives, so you need to tell me if he gives us any directions.” Reese waits for her to protest or ask questions, but when Carter doesn’t, he swiftly moves on.

And that’s how they begin their trek downstairs. Reese leads the way while Carter shepherds Finch along.

True to Reese’s word, Finch doesn’t actually see where they’re going, but he moves along just fine. He simply follows Carter’s guidance and walks when she pushes him in a certain direction and halts when she pulls him back.

“Not towards the yellow tables…” He whispers urgently once, right before Reese moves towards a hallway on their left. The ex-agent immediately switches tracks and heads towards their right, down another set of stairs. When they’re halfway down at the next landing, Carter hears another door open on the level above them. Their pursuers are probably moving upwards with another stairwell…and they somehow miraculously managed to evade them on that last floor.

Finch leans more and more on her offered support as Reese hurries them down the last sets of stairs. His bad leg isn’t helping him and Carter tries to offer the support he needs while half-blind and limping. Carter fears that they might actually trip and give away their location, but they manage.

“The south pathway?” Reese asks as he turns towards Finch. The other man frowns and ponders over an answer. “The south pathway.” Reese rephrases his words and that gets a reaction out of Finch. He nods and then they’re on the move again.

Their escape ends in the most boring but best way possible: they slip through the fence behind a giant pile of bricks. Reese hotwires a grey car from across a Starbucks while Carter tries to look the other way. She finds a distraction in Finch: the man suddenly steps towards his left and bumps into Carter.

“Sorry,” Finch mumbles an apology as he steadies himself, “I thought we were moving already.”

“Don’t worry, we're not moving just jet.” Carter tells him, but she’s not sure he actually hears her. Wherever Finch is mentally right now, it isn’t with her on the streets waiting for Reese to hotwire a car. Is he seeing the inside of the car already? Maybe their hideout where they'll go after this? A new victim Reese will save tomorrow morning?

Carter drags her charge into the car when Reese finally gets the motor running and then they’re off, with screaming tires and honking cars in their wake. Reese almost runs two lights, but Carter doesn’t have it in her to berate him. Finch still won’t let go of her jacket.

“So how long will he…” Carter really doesn’t know how to end the sentence. ‘How long before it wears off?’ Is that the right question, even? 'How long before he returns to normal?' What is the right way to address inhuman powers again?

“It will take some time...” Reese answers cryptically.

“How far- how far does he see? In the- is it really the future?” Carter doesn’t want to guess and get it wrong. She’s pretty sure Reese doesn't want to give up another secret of theirs, but she wants to hear the explanation coming from him. She's sure he won't lie, but he'd rather stay silent and let her fill in the blanks herself.

“He sees things that are about to happen, sometimes seconds, minutes or even days way. So yes, he sees the future.” Reese mumbles. “Usually, it comes to him in simple flashes, but if you ask the right questions it can push him into some kind of trance. These ones are stronger and more precise, but will take longer to wear off.”

“But doesn’t that create some kind of paradox?” Carter wonders out loud. “Like, events still happen, even though you try to change things? What if things only happen _because_ you think they will happen?”

She can see Reese’s smirk through the rearview mirror. “A self-fulfilling prophecy? I don’t know, Finch knows when we can change things or not. I just jump in whenever I can help people and jump out before it gets too bad.”

“You two are made for each other.” She states dryly.

“Finch sees something bad before it happens, I make sure it doesn’t happen. That seems like a sweat deal to me.”

“Don’t forget your uncanny ability to get away with everything. I imagine that helps too.” Carter deadpans.

She wants to ask more questions; how accurate or how detailed the visions are, if this is how they’ve been helping people all along and more. She keeps quiet instead. Reese won’t answer questions as long as they’re not somewhere remotely safe and Finch…Finch is not able to explain things himself right now and Carter doesn’t want to talk _about_ someone who’s sitting right next to her.

“Mr. Reese, that’s a stop sign….So, it means you have to stop.” Finch tells them out of nowhere and it startles her for a second. Reese looks at her through the rearview mirror. They’re just crossing the Manhattan Bridge and there’s no stop sign in sight.

“Well, you have a cop on board, so you better stop, _Mr._ Reese.” Carter states dryly. Reese gives a little more gas in silent protest, but five minutes later when they arrive at their actual stop sign he makes a show of stopping before they drive off.

It takes another twenty minutes before Finch ‘wakes up’. It’s a weird metaphor, but it’s the only way Carter can describe it. The man blinks a few times like the lights in the present time are harsher. He stares at her for a moment before letting go of her jacket. He retreats his arm and folds his hands in his lap. It makes him look proper and more in control of himself. A stark contrast with the blind man she had to stop from walking into walls.

“Traffic will speed up in a minute or so.” Finch states and that’s that. Carter blinks in surprise and contemplates recent events: she’s sitting in a car with a teleporter and some type of seer. They use their powers to save ordinary people from the strangest situations while they’re both hunted down by at least two law organizations.

And they trust her, a cop with a lawful streak to DC, to keep their secret. 

Carter squares her shoulders and sits up straighter. If these two people trust her, Carter will be damned if she lets them down. She decides right there and then in that stolen car that she won’t let anything bad happen to them on her watch.

Next to her, Finch’s eyes glass over for a second in another vision and when he refocuses his gaze on her, he gives her a small but grateful smile. Message received.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine the Machine still exist and still works the same as in canon. I imagine seer Finch teaches/ reverse-engineers the Machine to spot threats in a similar way of: "I had a vision where this person gets stabbed somewhere on a beach, find out how and why this could happen." and then he just sets the machine loose to learn how to spot patterns and stop Finch's visions from happening.
> 
> To explain Reese and Finch's powers real quick: Reese shadow jumps between dim-lit or dark places he's seen before, somewere nearby. He can probably jump further distances, but just like any skill, you need to practice for that. Finch gets flashes from the future, sometimes minutes, days or even weeks away. He can't choose whose future he sees, he just picks it up like random radio stattic of passerby's and people close to him. It's a very invasive skill for 'a private person'. Ingram and later Reese learned how to 'steer' the visions by asking Finch direct questions like a real oracle.


End file.
